Each year the Orange County Chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS-OC) hosts the Transportation Academy, a two-week transportation immersion program for college students. And each year this event attracts more and more students interested in transportation. Second-year USC Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering student Hanzhe Yang was one of the students given the opportunity to attend this year’s Academy, held in Orange County in August.

Yang has a broad spectrum of interests, including sports, club activities, and others. Along with studying, he is also actively involved in university life, and is a core member of the USC Chinese Graduate Student Association. But his main interest is in urban transportation, especially intelligent transportation systems and driverless technology. This interest is why he became involved and exposed to the transportation realm, that led to specific interest in transportation-related conferences.

Yang learned about the WTS-OC Transportation Academy from his advisor, professor James Moore from USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Yang was pleased to have the opportunity to attend the Academy. "I learned a lot in the two-week transportation academy program, and the most important thing I've learned is cooperation," shares Yang.

He shared that attending the conference gave him an understanding of the importance of professionals from different fields to work together on a construction site. During the Academy, Yang and other attendees were given the chance to visit worksites for an extraordinary first-hand experience. Yang notes that after visiting the Chiquita Canyon & Gobernadora Bridges, he realized that the traffic engineers not only design the direction of the bridge, "they also work with the bridge engineers to ensure that the locations of the bridge piles don't affect the underground water pipes and utilities."

"Cooperation between companies and public agencies are also widespread," remarks Yang. "TranSystems introduced its Highway Design Projects to us, including the I-5 Segment 2 in Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills for OCTA, and I-5 Widening for LA Metro. I noticed an interesting phenomenon. Employees from different companies often know each other. Many of them were project partners or even former colleagues. No one works independently."

Yang also says that he was lucky to meet with many outstanding young engineers who have taught him valuable experience as seniors. "I have learned two things: learn what you truly want and now is never too late."

Attending the WTS-OC Academy impressed and inspired Yang so much that he changed his study focus to Transportation Engineering. "Before attending this program, I was studying the general program of Civil Engineering and was focused on structures. After the Academy, I switched from the general program to transportation engineering."

Yang says that the Academy gave him a much better understanding of the transportation industry. "I now understand the specific positioning and responsibilities of the transportation engineer, and I have learned how transportation engineers play their roles in a project and cooperate with engineers in other fields" he noted.

More from WTS-OC about the Transportation Academy
The Transportation Academy is an annual two-week immersion into different facets of the transportation industry, for undergraduates and graduate college students, hosted by the Women's Transportation Seminar, Orange County Chapter.

Students hear from top executives within the transportation field and experience transportation first-hand, through a series of seminars and onsite tours, including live construction projects, a tour of the Los Angeles Harbor, a rail yard, tolling facilities and more.

Because the transportation industry has a wide range of career options, the 2019 Transportation Academy, held in August, included a new pilot program that allowed students to select one seminar concentration out of three options: engineering/design, urban planning/environmental planning and government affairs/outreach. Students attended specialized programs with industry leaders in their area of concentration, giving insight into careers in the transportation industry that complement their major.

About the Author:
Adylbek Abdykalikov is a graduate student in the International Public Policy and Management Program at USC Price. He has working experience in various positions at the Ministries of Transport and Communication and Investment and Development of Kazakhstan and was in charge of Transportation and Civil Aviation policy development and implementation, and serves as the lead student event coordinator for METRANS and PSR.